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TRIM – Excel Function | Blake Ekelund

TRIM

Remove extra spaces from text, leaving only single spaces between words.

Beginner

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Syntax

=TRIM(text)

Example Use Cases

Remove extra spaces
Normalize spacing from copy/pasted text

Common Issues

TRIM does not remove non-breaking spaces (char(160))
Users expect TRIM to remove all spaces, but it only collapses extra ones
TRIM cannot remove line breaks or tabs

Pro Tips

Use SUBSTITUTE(A1, CHAR(160), "") before TRIM to remove non-breaking spaces
Combine TRIM with CLEAN to remove hidden control characters
Use TRIM after text extraction to remove trailing spaces

Related Functions in TEXT & FORMATTING

Beginner Functions

Function	Use Case	Syntax
LEN	Count the number of characters in a text string.	=LEN(text)
CLEAN	Remove non-printable characters from imported or messy text.	=CLEAN(text)

Intermediate Functions

Function	Use Case	Syntax
TEXT	Format numbers, dates, or times as text using custom formatting.	=TEXT(value, format_text)
FIND	Locate the position of a character or substring in text.	=FIND(find_text, within_text, [start_num])